Thomas Scheffey

July 08, 1999 | Law.com

The Connecticut Bar Association's committee on professional ethics recently rejected a controversial idea -- whether it's legit to agree to a contingent fee contract that reverts to a standard hourly-fee deal if the client rejects a settlement offer that the plaintiff's lawyer recommends, and the defendant wins at trial. The committee decided that such an agreement, under ordinary circumstances, would impair the client's right to make that decision.

By Thomas Scheffey

9 minute read

May 04, 2001 | Law.com

Two federal judges in Connecticut are asking the state supreme court to define the bounds of unfair trade practices and products liability law. Substantial money damages may hang on the question of whether the state's Products Liability Act, which replaces traditional tort and contract remedies in defective product suits, also excludes claims under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

January 18, 2002 | Connecticut Law Tribune

Quinnipiac University School of Law announced the selection of its new Dean, Brad Saxton, currently Associate Dean of the University of Wyoming School of Law.

By THOMAS SCHEFFEY

3 minute read

January 18, 2000 | Law.com

Francis T. Mandanici, an assistant public defender in New Haven, Conn., is not a person who takes no for an answer. He's defending a parole violation case and argued to the appellate court that his client was deprived of evenhanded rulings. And Mandanici's considerable tenacity is playing out farther afield, in a Little Rock, Ark. grievance complaint against Kenneth Starr, alleging he sought perjurious testimony in his Whitewater investigation.

By Thomas Scheffey

2 minute read

July 27, 1999 | Law.com

In a Conn. auto accident case, a settlement with the employee defendant unexpectedly allowed her employer to escape all financial liability. Much to the plaintiff's surprise, his release of the employee was held, as a matter of law, to release the employer - even though the plaintiff made no reference to the employer, took no money from it and had no intent to release it. Plaintiff's attorney Stephen R. Bellis, says the state Supreme Court justices "took a step back, relying on 19th century common law..."

By Thomas Scheffey

9 minute read

July 12, 2002 | Connecticut Law Tribune

For a lawyer putting on a trial, few things are as distressing as when a witness changes a fundamental part of the story right in front of the jury.

By THOMAS SCHEFFEY Law Tribune Staff Writer

4 minute read

July 22, 2002 | Connecticut Law Tribune

The administrators for the estate of Anthony J. Vecchio IV don`t have to claim he was alive or viable to sue for wrongful death. That`s implied from the fact he was an eight-month-old fetus at the time he was stillborn, a Stamford judge trial referee has ruled.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

February 12, 2002 | Connecticut Law Tribune

Eighteen months ago, when the state police relayed a rumor to then Windham County prosecutor Mark S. Solak that a prison inmate was inquiring about having Solak killed, he and his wife took up arms.

By THOMAS SCHEFFEY Law Tribune Staff Writer

3 minute read

July 14, 1999 | Law.com

Connecticut law business is not just for home-grown outfits. Big firms in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and points west have had a history of establishing satellite offices here over the past 20 years. But suddenly a few of those are looking more like motherships than Sputniks. In Connecticut's newly booming economy, however, managers of large firms don't seem to be fearful of eat-or-be-eaten scenarios. They're enjoying the excitement of a business cornucopia.

By Thomas Scheffey

10 minute read

July 19, 1999 | Law.com

In January, Connie Bobbit made a deal with Atlanta-based Peachtree Settlement Funding, a company that is willing to pay him $14,000 for his Safeco Life Insurance Co. annuity. Spokesman Richard Auletta says Bobbitt needs his money to repair his car, get to job training, and to pay off debts. For the lawyers involved in Bobbit's case, at stake is the vitality of the rollicking new industry of settlement purchasers, fueled by Powerball and Lotto winners, as well as successful personal-injury plaintiffs.

By Thomas Scheffey

8 minute read